Definition of Health Promotion

People on the right side of the continuum are more satisfied with their lives and more resistant to disease, and traditional medicine has few tools to help them move toward optimal health.

Abstract

Medicine has traditionally focused its attention on the left side, working with patients who have disabilities, signs, or sympto~ns of disease. Its goal has been to move them toward the neutral point. While the center of the continuum is a point of no discernable illness it is also a point of no discernable wellbeing. Once a patient has reached that neutral point, traditional medicine has few tools to help him or her move toward optimal health. People on the right side of the continuum are more satisfied with their lives and more resistant to disease.